A continuation of CKUW's morning radio show 'Better Than Chocolate' (voted People's Choice for Favourite Spoken Word Show in 2008) in which you'll find news about Winnipeg events.
Have a great day. How can you miss - you're in Winnipeg!

Back in the Bigs: How Winnipeg won, lost and regained its place in the NHL

December 4, 2:00 - 4:00 pm by the Cash Desk

When the Jets flew south in ‘96, victims of a nose-diving Canadian dollar and the NHL’s new sun belt philosophy, “Winnipeg didn’t just lose a hockey team. It lost history. It lost prestige. It lost civic pride. It lost Keith Tkachuk,” writes Randy Turner in the opening of Back In the Bigs.

Now, in 2011, as the Jets finally return to Manitoba and an entire country revels in the glorious resurrection of one of Canada’s most beloved NHL franchises it’s time to look back on the history of professional hockey in Winnipeg.

Randy Turner is a National Newspaper Award-winning sportswriter. He has covered sports for the Winnipeg Free Press for twenty years.

Table after table full of incredible offerings from some of Winnipeg's finest crafters,

artisans and select vendors.

•Hand crafted gifts

•Bake Sale

•Gift Wrapping

•Snack Bar

•Silent Auction

Craig Street Cats is a grassroots non-profit organization working to humanely manage Winnipeg's free roaming cat population. With an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 feral, stray, lost and abandonned cats currently roaming the city, management is desperately needed. The group provides trap / neuter / return for unsocialized adult cats, rescue for kittens and social adults, community outreach, and education regarding feral cats.

Special Christmas Presentation of stories from Renee's CD Once Upon a Bethlehem Night.

Renée Englot shares stories of the people, animals and even plants who visited the manger-side. Learn how robin got his red breast, why owl cries hoo, how nightingale learned to sing, and more.

Renée Englot loves to tell stories. She has visited schools, libraries, book stores, seniors centres, universities, and festivals across Canada and in the United States. Once Upon a Bethlehem Night has already received a 2011 National Parenting Publications Award in the Children’s Media, Music and Audio category:

Take a new look at the Christmas story. The small shepherd, camel, flower, spider, star, the innkeeper’s daughter and others tell what happened that Bethlehem night.

Englot’s voice is perfect; and the music enhances the mood.

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December 3, 2:00 pm - Grant Park in the Atrium

Larry Krotz's six books include one novel, Shutter Speed, and five non-fiction works. His most recent book is The Uncertain Business of Doing Good: Outsiders in Africa.

A new book, Piecing the Puzzle: the Genesis of AIDS Research in Africa will be published in 2012. This will be a history of the thirty year involvement of University of Manitoba based AIDS researchers in Kenya and east Africa.

The two books together are the product of almost twenty years of reportage from the continent of Africa that appeared in many national magazines as well as films for Vision TV and the National Film Board of Canada. He covered a number of ground breaking AIDS research projects. He also attended and wrote about the United Nations sponsored criminal trials in the wake of the Rwanda genocide.

What motivated this? What is at stake when we agree to frame our work according to economic outcomes? How can we keep an eye on the big picture?

Milena Placentile is a curator, writer and researcher concerned with socially and politically motivated artistic practices, audience experience and cultural policy. She is now working on a resource for activist artists and their allies.

NEW MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY The Gallery has recently introduced a new "Supporting Member" category designed to appeal to artists who are unable to commit time to staffing the gallery during normal business hours.

EVERYONE WELCOME to mark twenty-two years since 14 young women were killed in Montreal on December 6, 1989, and to commemorate Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

Guest Speaker: Ms. Francine Pelletier

Acclaimed journalist and feminist who has worked in print, television and film for over thirty years. Ms. Pelletier will speak about her first hand experience as a journalist in Montreal at the time of the Massacre and her personal connection as a target on the murderer’s hit list.

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This year, we are collecting new unwrapped toys for children atthe North Point Douglas Women’s Centre.

Contributions are welcome!

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December 6, 12:30 pm to2:30 pm

Mezzanine level at the University of Winnipeg, in the Bulman Students' Centre

Light snacks and drinks will be provided.

The University of Winnipeg Womyn's Centre invites you to attend a FREE screening of the Canadian made film Polytechnique, to commemorate the anniversary of the Massacre.

All of Us is the story of one man's life told through the lens of Raymond Carver's Poetry and Short Stories. The show is a lyrical labyrinth exploring the memories that haunt a man slated for an early death.

You and Your Future is the first book by Canada’s foremost astrologer, Georgia Nicols, whose newspaper columns are read daily by millions.

Now you can read 40 years of forecasts (1985-2025), allowing you to predict your future by testing Georgia’s accuracy in reading your past. Never before has a single astrology book spanned four decades of change.

Georgia’s sage advice for being happy in this mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world is tailored to each sign. You will be referring to for the next quarter century.

Georgia Nicols’ wisdom and wit have made her a popular international astrologer whose horoscope columns appear in the National Post and the Winnipeg Free Press, among many others. She is a regular columnist in such publications as Elle Canada, The San Francisco Examiner, and Washington Examiner.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

****Sharing CraftDecember 1, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm in the Travel Alcove

The Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library invites all crafters to join in a casual and creative environment where you are encouraged to share your craft challenges and joys with skilled crafters from MCML.

DROP THE NEEDLE is a monthly series that combines handmade DIY crafting with

music curated by guest DJs.

This month, we do some PRINTMAKING and listen to the music of Mama Cutsworth!

This'll be a good chance to make some holiday greeting cards and stationary for gifts.

Folks from the prairies know that you need to pass the frosty winters with creativity; unfortunately, that usually means hiding away for eight months and knitting in front of the TV. Drop The Needle provides a social environment in which to cultivate handcrafted skills with a live, hand-spun soundtrack from Winnipeg’s best DJs.

Mary Louise’s book is an interweaving of conversations, reflections, folktales and stories told by patients in hospice and palliative care settings. The book explores the affinity between storytelling, music, and personal experience, consciously linking them together, using the themes and motifs found in myth and folktale. These two worlds can co - exist, much like an interior and exterior space, each informing the other.

Mary Louise Chown is a compelling storyteller whose tales connect the ordinary and the extraordinary. She has travelled extensively across Canada gathering stories and sharing her favourites. All things are possible in this world, and often true stories are stranger than fiction.

Mary Louise is a trained teacher and artist and was the first Storyteller-in-Residence at the Winnipeg Public Library.

November 22, 2011

As Aqua Books reorganizes and rebuilds, many of Winnipeg's best artists are stepping up to help the magic continue.

North of 50

A Cultural City Hall Fundraiser

Singer-songwriters Tim Elias, Bobby Stahr, and Marcel Desilets on the same bill for the first time!

Tim Elias is co-founder of legendary '80s act Elias, Schritt and Bell, with John Schritt and Steve Bell. He has also shared the stage with The Pointer Sisters, Juice Newton, Leon Redbone, James Cotton, Valdy and Graham Shaw.

Bobby Stahr formed the Incandescant Saffron Jug Band in 1967. In 1997, he was honoured with a tribute show at the West End Cultural Centre, featuring fifteen of his best songs. He currently performs with Scott Anderson on the Chapman stick.

Marcel Desilets has blended folk and poetry to provide a unique listening experience. Some of his songs are humorous, some are sweet, and some are cosmic. Marcel adds a beautiful touch on guitar; his original songs come from over thirty-five years of writing.

I Was a Teenage Playwright: The Fist Ten Years of the Scirocco/MAP Manitoba High School Playwriting Competition

More that fifty new plays have been developed and presented by the Scirocco/MAP Manitoba High School Playwriting Competition.

I Was a Teenage Playwright is your ticket to drama that is young, vibrant, edgy, exciting and never restrained by the regulations and expectations of a grown up theatre world.

Read it if you dare, and join us at this launch hosted by editor Angus Kohm and featuring readings from many of the writers and actors that have participated in the making of the book and the staging of its plays.

Monty and Marsha, two turkeys, were rescued from Thanksgiving two years ago.

They act like a married couple with Marsha always fussing over him, and Monty patient and loving with his bride. Monty thinks he is a movie star and lives to please and show off for his fans. When groups of people call out "Hey, Monty" he gobbles back to them.

Wild turkeys live for about 20 years, can fly, run, mate and live in large family groups. Domesticated turkeys are genetically engineered to get very big, very fast so they can be slaughtered when they are only 12 weeks old. They live only a few years and cannot run or mate and have a hard time walking. They are so intelligent and affectionate, it is such a shame that their bodies are set up to fail.

Monty had health issues and we almost lost him last year. He was in heart failure and the vet told us to say our goodbyes and that he would not recover. But we didn't give up on him and miraculously, Monty did recover and stayed with us to keep dazzling folks with his magic personality and winning plumage.

Because many of our animals have all been severely abused before coming here, their care is very expensive. One of the ways we can afford to care for them is by you sponsoring them.

We have 135 animals and they all need sponsors. Their sponsorship amounts vary from $5 for a chicken to $50 per month for a horse through our Virtual Barnyard. You will get a picture and bio of your animal and a regular emailed update of how he is doing.

It is a great feeling knowing that you can have a special relationship for the life of that animal. It also makes a great gift or a special way to honor a loved one.

November 21, 2011

This is the ninth installment in McNally Robinson Booksellers and the Prairie Garden Committee'sseries, taking place the last Wednesday of each month.

Bonnie will be giving easy methods for the propagation and nurture of small plants and describing the fascination many people have for this intriguing and familiar plant.

Bonnie Batchelor has been President of the Winnipeg African Violet Society for the last 10 years. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the St. James Horticultural Society.

Bonnie has had an interest in anything flower-related since she was a small child helping her grandmother plant gladioli and dahlias. Even as she travelled from place to place as a military wife she always managed have houseplants and small flower beds.

Now that her family is permanently landed in Winnipeg Bonnie has planted flower beds and filled her house with African violets.

Joseph Heath, University of Toronto professor of philosophy, co-author of The Rebel Sell and author of Filthy Lucre, will talk about how anti-consumerism has become one of the most powerful marketing tools in North American life.

On the eve of Buy Nothing Day, find out how anti-consumerism is not actually a critique on consumerism, it's a restatement of the "critique of mass society" that has been around since the 1960s.

The two are not the same. In fact, the critique of mass society has been one of the most powerful forces driving consumer spending for more than 50 years.

TAG TALES is a web-based interactive word game situated on screen. TAG TALES was conceived to be played in public areas where people shut down and turn on cell phones, mobile devices and portable computers.

TAG TALES gives the passerby the occasion to stop their daily routine to exchange a few quick thoughts.

It also offers an opportunity to become aware of the transformations of our mental and collective environments that influence more and more our habits, and our way of life.

With the advent of video art in France in the '70s, Croiset produced videotapes, installations and performances, presented in national and international events in New York, Paris, London, Rome, Bonn and Berlin, Taipei, and broadcast on television channels in Europe and the U.S.

Croiset’s research and experimental reflection are often linked to a sociological approach and committed to its involvement in public art. Nicole Croiset lives and works in Toronto.

Winnie the Bear is the biography of a Canadian black bear adopted by Lieutenant Harry Colebourn and named after the city of Winnipeg.

A kind veterinarian who was en route overseas at the beginning of World War I,

Colebourn nurtured the young cub at training camps in Valcartier, Quebec, and on the Salisbury Plains.

Appleby takes us on Winnie and Harry’s journey and through the story of her own research, which is all the more fascinating for her family’s connection to Harry Colebourn. Appleby’s insights into the remarkable chain of events in Winnie the Bear’s life reveal the bear’s truly inspirational role in the creation of A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books.

Mary Anne and her family reside in the Wolseley neighbourhood in the heart of Winnipeg.

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Welcome to Winnipeg!

While I was born in Malta, raised in NY and lived in BC, Winnipeg is home.
I've co-hosted an award winning radio show.
I've been published in newspapers and literary anthologies and my plays have been produced.